Today, Ramesh and I were going on the Golden Triangle tour — one of the most popular and common full-day tours tourists do while in Chiang Mai. I had been to Chiang Rai and the point where Thailand’s border meets Laos and Myanmar in 2010. But I didn’t get the chance to hop across the river and set foot in Laos, because it’s much easier to do that when you go as part of a tour group.

The first stop on this tour was Sam Kamphaeng, famous for its hot spring fountainThe water really was quite warmFelt quite hot when I just poked my finger in the waterYou can even buy eggs to boil in the waterIt shoots pretty highThat’s it really. This was more of a rest stop.

One and half hours later, we reached Chiang Rai province. The van dropped us off at the famous White Temple.

This was our English-speaking guide. He gave us a brief introduction and the told us we could roam about freely for around 30 minutes.“Alcohol is a sin” — A piece of advice ignored by practically everybody.When I first came to the White Temple in 2010, I was thoroughly impressed with the work doneAlthough I was still impressed by the main structure, some opinions about this place were starting to changeA panorama from Ramesh’s phoneIt was time to go in

You have a guy here speaking in to a mic asking/requesting/ordering visitors not to block the path, and to keep moving.

Pretty stunning if you ask meLast time, I took a lot of photos, so this time around I only sought ‘interesting’ frames.Horses and humans tangled in the demons of hellPretty impressive work♫ One of these fingernails is not like the other… ♫

Photography is prohibited inside the main prayer hallI would see why

Inside the main prayer, our guide told us we would find a Buddhist monk who has been praying/in meditation for years and is not be disturbed. Of course our guide told us this with a smile on his face. We could see why. The “monk” was just a wax figure, made to look like the real person. But when I saw what was painted on the walls inside the hall, I lost all religious consideration for this “temple”. In a galaxy painting was Neo from The Matrix, Optimus Prime, Alien and Predator, among other popular sci-fi characters. Seriously, don’t take Wat Rong Khun seriously — it’s just a massive art project, disguised as a temple.

We went back outAh, the coin well, a.k.a, a good way to get change from people

This was the toilet. Posh! 🙂This was a ‘tree’ of messages and well-wishes

This was an art gallery, where photography inside was prohibitedIt was time for us to re-group and leave the White TempleAnother panorama from RameshAn hour later, we were in the border town of Chiang SaenOur guide gave us the lowdown on Mekong river and its importance to every nation the river passes through

In 2010, I came to Chiang Saen by bus, toured the surrounding sights but fell short of doing the boat ride on Mekong river as I had arrived too early in the morning and there were no other visitors to share the boat with.

This time I was actually going to get to do the boat ride over to LaosOur guide gave us more trivia as we rode alongBuffaloes making their way up the river to LaosIt’s not just cattle and small goods being transportedMekong river was/still a line through which a lot of drugs were/are transportedThat’s ThailandThat’s Myanmar, we can’t enter there without a visaThat’s a casino over in Laos, funded by the ChineseIn fact, the Chinese built this entire Special Economic ZoneWe were now going to enter LaosTourists are allowed in at Done Xao, but not beyond a certain point

Docked, I excitedly jumped on to Laos soil! 🙂

As expected, it was choc full of small shops catering to touristsOur guide took us to a store selling “special” whisky — with tiger testicles and snakes in themThey were handing out free taste samples, but I refused to drink the one with tiger testicles. Purely on moral grounds, and knowing how many of India’s tigers are killed for shit like this.The usual “this is good for you” bullshit — none of which are scientifically provenYou can buy small bottles, but I chose not to. I can’t imagine passing this through security at airports.But I gave the snake whiskey a try: a) because snakes reproduce in larger numbers than tigers do, b) I hate snakes

I let out an instant cough as soon as I took the first sip. Needless to say, this was no Scotch. It was pure spirit and quite tasteless. Another reason not to buy it.

Nothing says “I love you, Mom” better than scorpions and snakes apparentlyAfter that, I got my passport stamped with an unofficial Laos visa sealAfter all, I was officially on Laos soil 🙂But I was still far away from the heart of LaosWe weren’t allowed to go beyond this point, even though I was tempted toThere was little else to do here. I bought a Laos fridge magnet and a bottle of Beerlao as our guide says it’s not available in Chiang Mai.You can buy postcards and mail them from Laos soilWe were given a few minutes to walk about hereKip is Laos currency — but I bought the Beerlao in Thai baht266 kms from/to… where?If you do have a genuine Laos visa stamped, there is an immigration office hereThe Chinese built all this. It’s amazing how far they are spreading their influence in the region — all for business of course.Anyway, it was time for us to take the boat across the river back to ThailandAh Christian missionaries, going to the far corners of the land to convert people spread the message of God.This guy was carving and selling scented soapLunch was at some buffet restaurantThe food was bland and just “meh”. Ramesh ate even less.From one border town to the nextNext stop on the tour was Mae Sai, the town bordering MyanmarFrom here, you can officially enter Myanmar (if you have the rights to)Our guide gave us the lowdown on the border town and how to enter MyanmarBurmese can enter Thailand freely for 24hours, but if they need to stay beyond that, they need a visa. So a lot of traders sell goods by day and return in the evening.Ramesh’s panorama gives you a better ideaI would have liked to have set foot in Myanmar, but we couldn’tI saw a river stream down below

This is all that sets Myanmar and Thailand apartRamesh took this photo of me while he was still listening to the guide talkI, on the other hand, was trying to take the “last step in Thailand”Not exactly the most secure border crossing 🙂Above the bridge, there’s enough security

Left: to Thailand, Right: to MyanmarIt was time for us to leave Mae Sai

At this point, we were already pretty tired, but the tour was still not over. We drove a bit inland to visit a “tribal village”.

This was a “village” where we could see all the tribes living in this regionVillage is in quotes because this was obviously just set up for touristsBut these are people (supposedly) from various tribes from across the region — or some of them could just be locals made to dress up in traditional garb and pose for touristsThere were few other tribes here ‘on display’The most prominent being the ‘long neck’ tribeOr the Karon people, as they are also calledOf which there were a fewSome of them surely looked like they had homes in the backI bought some bamboo mugs for the sake giving these people some money. Who knows how much they get from tour operators for every visit to this “village”. Another example of exploitative tourism in Thailand I guess.With that, our Golden Triangle tour was finally done

At ฿1400 (Rs. 2500/$40/€30) per person, the Golden Triangle tour is one of the more expensive tours I have done, but it’s really worth it in my opinion. If you are short on time and can’t afford to visit Chiang Rai to go to the Thai border or see the White Temple, just do this tour. It will take up an entire day, and time on spent on road is a couple of hours, but you do get to see and experience a lot.

Stopped on the way for a toilet break. This is where we relieved ourselves 🙂By the time we were dropped back to our hotel, it was dinner time. Ramesh and I walked to Thapae Gate, where they had big paper lanterns in the shape of famous world landmarks.The Taj Mahal went pink for this one

We picked up dinner and had it in our room. Good thing there was a mini-fridge to chill the Beerlao I had bought from Laos.

It was really good!

A tiring but befitting end to our day. Tomorrow was the big lantern festival for which I returned to Chiang Mai for. You can view that post here.